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What will you choose?

A few weeks ago I engaged in an act of recycling that I am dubbing “creative littering.” I’ve wanted to do this for quite some time now, but only just gave it a try recently. I had purchased a baggie full of plastic farm animals from a flea market for less than a dollar, and I was really excited about the zebra. It has an intriguing shape, with blocky legs that move. The zebra is really nifty, and it’s sitting on some of my books right now. The other animals were okay, but not nearly as exciting to me as the zebra. If I had kept them they would have become clutter. What to do? Creative littering.

It worked like this. I took a nice walk around my neighborhood, and as I did, I left farm animals behind. A pink plastic pig peered out over a brick ledge. I stuck a goat onto a branch on a bush, and a horse decided to rest on the seat of a parked motorcycle. I placed each and every animal with care. I wanted them to all go where someone would find them, and perhaps be delighted by the little bit of magic that it added to their day. I heard one person laughing as they saw the sheep I had left behind. My mission had been successful.

I don’t believe in the regular sort of littering, but I do believe that it’s my job to be part of the magic I wish to see in the world. I created some fun for my fellow Seattleites, and that’s something worth doing. I also got rid of clutter, and that’s a joyful thing in itself. I never would have gotten as much fun out of those animals as the people who found them did, and I had fun in the process of gifting the toys into the universe. I’m looking forward to future opportunities to do some creative littering. Who knows what I’ll choose to give next time?

Your assignment, should you choose to accept it:

200. Engage in an act of creative littering. You can label your gifts with little signs or simply let people see what they will in what you leave behind. How did this act make you feel?